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Read MorePower of the Purse
This week a hometown friend invited me to the Tenth Anniversary celebration and fundraiser for Power of the Purse, which features a purse auction to benefit the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health. Over 1,000 women attended to hear former first lady, Mrs. Laura Bush, talk about the efforts...
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Read MoreChecking Cows
Checking Cows After moving eight miles from town and down the road from my in-laws, I wondered at my father-in-law’s compulsion to drive through his cattle every single day, sometimes twice. My husband did the same. We drove through the steers he fed out on leased grass most every...
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Read MoreCowboy Gear: BOOTS
Cowboy boots, high-heeled boots, custom-mades, short tops were pee-wees. The early version of boots seen in the West did not always have high-heels, which has become synonymous with the American cowboy style. Early over-the-counter boots were plain with a lower heel and cost around $15.00. Cowboys began to wear...
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Read MoreGamers & Their Parents
Gamers & Their Parents: Are We Raising Violent Youth? Is our youth more violent today because of video games? Every time we experience a horrific incident involving America’s youth, the group of computer geeks labeled “gamers” are usually mentioned in the backlash. As a mom of one precious heavenly...
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Read MoreWindmills on the High Plains
Oldtimers say it’s a place where you can watch your dog run away for two days. A vast, arid plain of un-watered hearty mixture of grasses. Charles Goodnight set his ranch in Palo Duro Canyon and watered his livestock from the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River,...
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Read MoreGreat-Grandmother’s Oak Table
Is it possible to feel emotional towards a piece of furniture? We own an antique oak table which came from Mullins, Texas, my great-grandmother’s house. It must have been over 75 years old when Mom and Dad brought it home. I was in Junior High. My parents passed it...
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Read MoreJanuary Reads
Recommended reads and reviews for a few of the treasures I discovered in January. For Fans of Westerns THE MEDICINE KNIFE by Don Coldsmith I’m working my way through The Spanish Bit Saga by Don Coldsmith, after finding a few of his works at the local library sale....
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Read MoreMaster Storyteller, Dusty Richards
The Western Genre lost a legend, mentor, and award-winning author. DUSTY RICHARDS passed this week from injuries following a car wreck in December, just one week after his wife, Pat, died. DUSTY RICHARDS wore a wide variety of hats including renowned rodeo announcer, auctioneer, teacher, author, tremendous storyteller, cattle...
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Longfellow’s Christmas Bells
The sorrow behind the joyful words. As a writer, I’m always fascinated to learn the history behind the stories and how the events at the time might influence the words that flow onto a blank page. Good or bad, joyous or devastating–strong emotions can evolve into powerful prose. A good example is a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of my all time favorites. Longfellow’s Sorrow In the case of Christmas Bells, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the words to his poem on December 25, 1864. The music and message is up-lifting. The words actually came from a very distraught Longfellow during one of the lowest times in his life. Tragedy Strikes Three years earlier, his beloved wife Fanny had tried to preserve her daughter’s hair clippings in wax. In a tragic turn of events, hot candle wax dripped onto Fanny’s dress, igniting it in flames. She ran into her husband’s study, where Henry tried to extinguish the blaze with a rug. He experienced severe burns to his face, arms, and hands. How they both must have suffered through that long night, only to have Fanny die the next morning. Henry was much too ill to even attend her funeral. “A merry Christmas’ say the children, but that is no more for me.” reads Longfellows’ journal entry...
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National Day of the Horse
Please welcome guest blogger, Kirsti Kasch! National Day of the Horse by Kirsti Kasch She was nothing special when I found her, just a scrawny yellow mare. No papers, no record breaking genetics, “just a grade mare” who wasn’t very well taken care of. I begged and pleaded to call her mine when graduation rolled around. Finally dad broke down and gave her a chance at greatness. He invested in her, but most importantly he invested in us. Fancy and I became a team. She was a hot mess. But so was I. Shortly after buying Fancy, who was to be my first “practice horse” that I was hardly getting along with, my childhood rope horse came up lame. Not the lame that you give them some “bute” and turn them out for a few days. The kind of lame that makes you cry all the way to Hansford County Vet. I dried my tears when I stepped out of the truck, only because cowgirls don’t cry in front of people. Pepsi couldn’t back up. As much as his heart wanted to please me, his body couldn’t make it happen. He had no idea how to make his hind end work. The staff at the vet ran test after test resulting in a negative....
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PIE CRUST & HOMETOWN MEMORIES
My mother-in-law cooked simple, comfort food with home-grown vegetables and sweet iced tea. More often then not, every meal included the creamiest mashed potatoes you’ve ever tasted. She fixed stick-to-your-ribs kind of meals so the men and boys could get back to the farm and cattle work. One of the dishes she excelled at, and my husband’s all time favorite, was her apple pie. Made from scratch crust and juicy apple slices drenched in cinnamon and sugar, this pie...
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WHERE YOUR BEEF COMES FROM
A year’s worth of work on a Texas cattle ranch leads up to one day: shipping day. The signs of Fall in the Texas Panhandle signals the time to gather the herd, wean the calves, and ship the to market. Last year our calf crop sold through Superior Livestock Auction and brought the highest price in the nation on the day of sale. A valuable herd is made possible through the year-long efforts of our Ranch Foreman, reliable day...
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